Page 69 of Trick or Truce

I close Noah’s textbook and give her my full attention. “Okay.”

“I mean it. If you’re going to lie to me, then just tell me you can’t answer the question. I’d rather that than a lie.”

“I won’t lie to you. What’s going on?”

Noah drops her pencil onto my kitchen table. “Are you and my dad in a fight?”

My stomach twists. “Honestly, I don’t know if you can call it a fight.”

She throws up her hands. “I knew it. I knew something fishy was going on.”

“I’d rather you talk to him about it first. I don’t want to upset him.”

“Oh, he’s already upset.” She rolls her eyes. “He’s been in the worst mood these past few days, snapping at me and yelling at Romeo for no reason. Now I know why.”

I grimace. “I’m sorry. I feel like it’s my fault.”

She leans in. “Len, what happened?”

I run my fingers through my hair and blow out a long sigh. “You’re going to have to ask your dad.”

“He’s not going to tell me anything, and you know it.” She lets out a frustrated growl. “I knew there was a reason you bailed on tutoring twice this week.”

“It won’t be forever.” My eyes bounce around the room as I try to come up with a way to explain this for a fourteen-year-old. “Give it some time.”

“Time.” She clenches her jaw, and it’s uncanny how much she looks like Grant. “You’re avoiding him, and you need time. That sounds like a breakup. Were you dating?”

I shake my head. “No, we weren’t dating.”

“I would be so pissed if you were dating and you didn’t tell me.”

All this time, what even were we?

I thought we’d be more. I thought I meant more. It turns out we were nothing more than stolen kisses and secret love affairs behind Noah’s back.

“I promise, we weren’t dating.”

“But…?”

“But…you should talk to your father.”

“He won’t talk to me. Ever. Anytime I ask him a question about my mom, he brushes it under the rug. He’ll do the same with this.” She throws her pencil at the table and it bounces onto the floor. “I hate this. Everything was going great, and now it’s not.”

“Hey.” I lean in and rub her back in soothing circles. “Whatever is going on is between me and your dad. You and I still get to see each other. Everything is okay.”

“No, it’s not.” Tears well in her eyes. “You don’t get it.”

“Help me understand. Tell me what you’re feeling.”

“I thought…I was hoping…” She wipes her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I want you to date my dad so you could be, like, my stepmom.”

My heart falters in my chest. “You do?”

“Dad is happy when you’re around. He listens to you, and he started treating me like I’m an actual teenager instead of a five-year-old.” She sniffles. “And I liked having you there. I liked how it felt with you in the house. It felt like we were…whole.”

I yank her chair closer to mine and swivel to face her. “You and your father are whole. Your father doesn’t need a significant other to make your family qualify as a family. You two have each other, and that is more than enough. Stop looking at the things you’re missing in your life. Appreciate what you have right in front of you. You don’t have a mom. I didn’t have a great dad. Your father doesn’t have a wife. But none of that matters if you look at the people we do have.” I grip her face and force her to look into my eyes. “And you will always have me in your life, no matter what house I’m in. Anything you’d want to ask your mother, you can ask me. I am here for you. Always. Do you understand?”

She nods before she flings her arms around my neck and hugs me with all her might.

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